“Journalism as Deed” Sakharov Prize Awarded

posted 18 Dec 2013, 10:07 by Rights in Russia   [ updated 18 Dec 2013, 10:10 ]
16 December 2013

Source: HRO.org (info)
The award, founded by the entrepreneur Peter Vins, is conferred for “journalism which reflects the authors’ active life, is consistently of a high professional standard, and advances the values defended by A. D. Sakharov during his lifetime”.

The Sakharov prize “Journalism as a Deed” was awarded to Yulia Suntsova from Udmurtia. The ceremony was held in the Moscow House of Journalists, Grani.ru reports.

The award was given to Suntsova for a series of publications in Den (Day), a newspaper, on violence against children. In January she wrote about a girl who died at a children’s home as a result of doctors’ negligence. After the article was published a criminal case was opened and the doctor at the home was given a suspended sentence. Suntsova, who is 25, became the youngest laureate in the history of the award.

Certificates and money prizes were also given to four other nominees: Elena Suslova (newspaper Otkrytaya. Dlya vsekh i kazhdogo, Mineralniye Vody), Elena Vlasenko, (newspaper Sovershenno Sekretno, Moscow), Sergei Sokolov (newspaper Novaya gazeta) and Vladimir Vorsobin (newspaper Komsomolskaya pravda). Viktoria Gil, a theatre director from Noginsk, was awarded a Special Certificate of by the jury.

The award, founded by the entrepreneur Peter Vins, is conferred of “journalism which reflects the authors’ active life, is consistently of a high professional standard, and advances the values defended by A. D. Sakharov during his lifetime” Vins is a former Russian dissident who in 2010 became a victim of illegal attempts to seize his business and was placed under arrest in absentia by Moscow City Court on charges of tax evasion.

The jury is headed by Aleksei Simonov, president of the Glasnost Defence Foundation. The competition has been held for the 13th time this year. In previous years awards went to Elvira Goryukhina (Novosibirsk), Anna Politkovskaya (Moscow), Galina Kovalskaya (Moscow), Mikhail Afanasyev (Abakan), Igor Naidenov (Moscow), Anna Lebedeva (Rostov-on-Don), Yevgeny Sholokh (Vladivostok), Tamara Proskuryakova (Kamyshin), Tatyana Sedykh (Khabarovsk Region), Vladimir Voronov (Moscow), Georgy Borodyansky (Omsk), and Viktor Shostko (Rostov Region).

The Sakharov Prize is traditionally awarded on 15th December, Remembrance Day for those journalists killed in the course of carrying out their professional duties.

Translated by Olga Cable
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